


Treasonous Illusion

by junko



Series: Curse of the Nue [27]
Category: Bleach
Genre: M/M, Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-13
Updated: 2012-09-13
Packaged: 2017-11-14 04:00:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/511079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/junko/pseuds/junko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Invaders are raining from the sky, and Byakuya is losing control of Renji... and so much more.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Treasonous Illusion

Byakuya’s morning had been one disaster after another. First, of course, he’d been awakened by Renji’s demon breathing down on him, threatening his life. Then, just when he’d finally decided what he wanted to say to Renji and caught up with his lieutenant at the Division, invaders had literally fallen from the sky.

Byakuya, however, was very proud of the Sixth. Despite the chaos, Renji and his teams had sprung into action very efficiently. 

But now damage reports were rolling in from every direction. The Seireitei was under major assault, the likes of which Byakuya had not experienced in centuries. They were losing people. 

His people. 

#

Renji met up with some of the other lieutenants at the Fourth to get a damage report. Things were bad. The hospital ward was clogged. He’d even heard that both Ikkaku and Yumichika were missing in action, possibly down. As shockingly unbelievable as that was, what was killing Renji was even more personal. Two minutes ago, a medic pulled him aside to brief him about the status of his soldiers, and show him to Utako. She’d taken a hit and there was no hope of recovery. 

No hope.

The medics had done everything they could. They were very sorry, but she was going to die.

Stunned, Renji sank into the seat beside her. “Can she hear me?”

“We must hope so, sir. But, I'm afraid you have very little time,” the medic said. "She has been struggling to hang on, though. Perhaps she's been waiting for something... For someone."

“I think I know who, but it ain't me."

The medic retreated with a low bow to give Renji some privacy.

"Listen up, Utako. It's Renji, your lieutenant, and I've got some things I need to tell you before... before you muster out. I’ve watched you practice and I’m incredibly proud of you. I was expecting you to rise up fast, maybe make Third some day. You’re a good soldier, damn it. One of the best. But, you don't have to fight any more. You have my permission to... stand down,” Renji tried not to choke up as he’d stood up to say, “It’s been an honor to serve with you.” 

Bending down, Renji lightly touched two fingers on the hilt of the zanpaktō she clutched against her chest and whispered, “Know this: Utako loved you. Next time around, she’ll call your name. You have to let her go now, too. But, If you wait for her to come back around, I swear on my life she’ll get that chance to really know you."

 _You have our vow, too,_ hissed Zabimaru lowly.

Then Renji got up, went to the meeting where Yasochika Iemura read roll call of all the dead, critically wounded, injured, and maimed. Renji listened to the names—some hurting, but none so much as Utako--and resolved to kill Ichigo Kurosaki.

Personally.

#

The well-oiled machine of the Sixth was beginning to fall apart. When Byakuya approached the Third about it, he stammered, “We’re being overwhelmed, sir. The invaders seem to be attacking from all sides, completely randomly. Worse, everybody is so freaked out that we’re taking a lot of friendly-fire from overanxious soldiers from other Divisions, especially those louts at the Eleventh—they’ll knock down anything that moves for the ‘glory of Kenpachi’. And… and, Lieutenant Abarai is missing, sir. We need him here. I… we don’t know what do without him.”

“Calm yourself. You are perfectly capable of handling things, Third Seat,” Byakuya said. “Have you sent a Hell butterfly to the lieutenant?”

“Yes,” the Third said. “There’s been no reply.”

No reply? Could Renji have been injured as well? Byakuya’s heart leapt to his throat. “Is his advance team engaged?”

“No, sir, that’s what has me worried. They’re here, waiting for him—waiting on orders. Lieutenant Abarai never came back from his meeting at the Fourth. Wherever he is, he’s alone.”

Byakuya shook his head. Renji was reckless, but he was a good soldier. Unless… unless he’d been overtaken by… instinct. That damn demon must have pushed him into something stupid. Byakuya was already heading out the door, as he said, “Renji must be held up at the Fourth. I will locate him.”

#

The sensation of a foreign captain-level reistsu settling down next to his cot woke Ikkaku with a start. Then, he blinked rapidly, trying to figure out if the nurse had slipped him an extra dose of pain-killers or if he was really seeing what he seemed to be—what was this anyway, the captain parade? First, that kabuki-painted mad scientist tried to ‘interrogate’ him and probably would have done some weird medical experiment on him had Kenpachi not swooped in--but this guy? Here? Really? 

But, then, given what Ichigo had asked him, this one made at least some amount of sense.

“Byakuya Kuchiki, seriously?” Ikkaku asked, still staring in disbelief at the serene stately captain sitting at his bedside, looking like some kind of funky angel of mercy in his fancy, billowing scarf and girlish noble hair. Yumichika would shit when Ikkaku told him about this visitor. “To what do I owe this… uh, honor?”

“Pardon my intrusion into your rest and recovery, Third Seat Madarame,” he said, “But, I have something I need to ask.”

Ikkaku shook his head and turned his face away. “I got nothing for the lot of you. I saw nothing, heard nothing. My whole interaction with the ryoka was a blur.”

“I find that difficult to believe of a warrior of your caliber,” Byakuya said flatly—though, wait, was that an actual compliment from Byakuya Kuchiki? Maybe Ikkaku was high and imagining this whole interaction. The captain continued, “However, the ryoka are not my current concern. I came to discuss your relationship with your former colleague, Renji Abarai.”

Ikkaku twisted his head back in surprise. “Renji? Is he okay?”

“He has not yet been brought to the Fourth. He seems to be… AWOL.”

Ikkaku snorted. “AWOL? Renji? More like missing in action. You’re the one who’s high if you think Renji's shirking at a time like this.”

Byakuya pursed his lips. “About you and him--you were close to my lieutenant, yes?”

Close? Everyone knew they were friends, could Byakuya really be asking about something more? That seemed strange. Why would Byakuya give a rat’s ass about who Renji was ‘close’ too? Oh, but, there was that one time recently when Renji came back to the Eleventh all hot and bothered and Yumichika and he and… wait, hadn’t Byakuya shown up that night looking for Renji, too? “Oh my god! No! I never touched him. Not once. The person you want to kill is Yumichika Ayasegawa. Do you need me to spell that for you? Yumichika is going to say I was there, and I was, but it wasn’t like that. I’ve seen Abarai drunk and naked plenty of times to know he’s not my type, all right? He’s all yours.”

“Indeed,” Byakuya said. “As illuminating as all this is, that’s not what I meant. I want to know if you’ve ever seen the demon when it rides him, his… Zabimaru.”

“Oh.” Okay, that was awkward, and he’d just thrown Yumichika under the bus for nothing. Worse, Byakuya seemed like the sort to take down notes for later revenge. Ikkaku shifted in the bed a little, and scratched the top of his head. Of course, he pulled some stitch doing it, but he covered his desire to yelp with a cough. “Uh, yeah, sure, I’ve seen Renji and Zabi like that a couple of times. We used to call it their beserker rage.”

The captain’s eyes grew noticeably wider. “Is that so?”

“Yeah,” Ikkaku said, settling deeper into the mattress and thinking back on it. It was hard to forget. “I remember the first time best. It was the year Renji was really fighting his way up into the top ten.” He paused to explain to Byakuya. Ikkaku had learned some time ago that there was a big difference in the way rank was awarded at the Eleventh that made them unique from all others, “You see, at ours there’s no set challenge season, so seats are always in play. You understand?--Always. Like right now, lying here, some unseated could try and challenge me. And, if he defeats or kills me? He’s Third until someone takes him out. The only exception is if you’re already fighting. No ambushing during a challenge. But, you know, the second it’s over….”

“Even while injured and recovering? That’s insane.”

“Whatever, it’s how it’s done. Drunk, sober, wounded, sleeping, fucking—it doesn’t matter. The point is, I don’t think Renji gave himself a break at all that winter; it was totally hardcore—nearly every day or night, sometimes two or three times a day, he’d go after somebody or vice versa. And you know him, right? If he dropped a tiny notch, he’d be back in swinging twice as hard, the second after it was called. He wouldn’t even pause after fairly major injuries. So…honestly? I think he kind of lost it, you know, slipped a gear under the pressure—or maybe he was close to going under for good and Zabimaru took over. All I know is that all of a sudden it was crazy.” Ikkaku remembered the sound that came out of Renji more than any of the rest; it was inhuman. He shivered with the memory. “Only thing that saved us from total wipeout was that Yumichika figured out that when that thing shows up, best just lie down and play dead. No one much bothered Renji after his big show of strength, and he stayed unchallenged at Sixth until he left us. Anyway, I’m just as glad Renji can’t seem to do it on cue. Kenpachi still raves about it, and, if Renji’d been able to pull that stunt more than once or twice, he’d have had my seat, the fucker.”

Byakuya seemed to be considering this seriously, though Ikkaku couldn’t tell whether the captain was even awake from his blank, closed-eyed expression.

“Kenpachi didn’t want to let Renji go to you, you know. He wanted to keep that. My captain’s got a fondness for demon types; he likes that kind of uncontrolled crazy,” Ikkaku said. “But, I talked the captain into it with the usual spiel about how it’s good to have fighting-types who are loyal to the ideals of the Eleventh everywhere. But, frankly, I was just as happy to see the backside of Renji. I didn’t need the competition.”

“Indeed? I had thought—“ Byakuya seemed to wake up with a start for a moment, but then recovered his composure. “That is, he always speaks of you as his teacher.”

“Heh, well, I was, at first. But, fuck me, what can I teach a demon?” Ikkaku continued, more to himself than anything else. He laced his fingers on his chest and stared out the window at the Fourth’s gardens, his mind wandering back to those days. “I mean, we still sparred every damn day because, well, that’s Renji. He doesn’t know when to quit. But, I had nothing new to give him—I figured if he could ever tap that demon of his fulltime he’d have his wish and see your ass in a sling.”

“Mine? You think the demon is that strong?”

“I _know_ they are. I've seen the bloodlust,” Ikkaku said. “He’s kind of got three against two, with Zabi. You know, two heads being better than one and all that. Anyway, good luck taking on a nue. My bet’s on the crazy-eyed hell-spawn over pansy-ass cherry blossoms any day.”

Byakuya’s lips were very thin. “I am a captain. _I_ have bankai.”

“Yeah, good for you, pal, because that’s your only salvation. Your lily-white ass is so fucked once Renji has his, and, that can’t be long now. He was close when he left us.”

Byakuya stood up. “How could _you_ possibly sense such a thing, Third Seat?”

“How could you possibly not, _Captain_.”

#

That had been one of the most disturbing conversations of Byakuya’s life. Close to bankai? Renji? No, Third Seat Madarame must be mistaken. How could anyone below a captain’s level even have the ability to sense such an increase in power? And, anyway, as intimate as he and Renji were, surely Byakuya would see it first.

Renji was not ready for bankai. He couldn’t even control Zabimaru in the simplest fashion.

Byakuya was making his way back to the barracks when he heard someone call his name. He looked up to see Aizen coming his way, with an urgent expression on his usually smiling face. Byakuya stopped to let him catch up, “Sōsuke?”

“There you are!” Aizen said. “Thank gods I found you. I’m afraid I have to give you this…” he held out Renji’s lieutenant’s badge, the kanji six like a tear drop in the center of the shield-shaped patch. 

For second, Byakuya couldn’t breathe. Renji must have fallen in battle, unthinkably--defeated. Was he dead? Had that rat bastard Aizen been the last to see him instead of Byakuya? Byakuya wanted to rip the badge from Aizen’s filthy hands, clutch it to his chest. Instead, he stared at it, afraid to even move least Aizen see his hands shaking with the emotions he barely contained. “What is the meaning of this? Where is my lieutenant?”

“I think… uh, that is, Momo told me she found it.”

“Found it?”

“Yes, it seems Renji intentionally left it behind at a meeting at the Fourth. Momo has this crazy idea that your lieutenant slipped out a window. I told her she was foolish to assume such a thing of our Renji Abarai. She insisted it was true and burst into tears. She confessed that she never would even have told me--in fact, Kira told her not to--but she’s worried sick about Renji. You see, Momo said there was a fight in yesterday’s lieutenant’s meeting about Ms. Rukia. Renji was… well, I heard he was quite vicious, going after Matsumoto, and they had to restrain him, he was so angry about everything that's happened with his old...er, friend." Aizen glanced at Byakuya, as if worried that Byakuya had caught his implication that Renji and Rukia were lovers. Byakuya had never asked either of them, and he had no inention of doing so--though, he had to admit the idea of Renji pawing all over Rukia bothered him more than a little. 

Aizen cleared his throat and continued, "You don’t think Renji would have used this distraction to try to free Ms. Rukia or--?”

“Stop right there,” Byakuya snapped, cutting Aizen off harshly. “I will not tolerate such slander of my lieutenant’s character.”

Aizen dipped his head, but when he came back up from the light bow he caught Byakuya’s eye. “I mean no disrespect, but you and I both know how difficult Renji is to… discipline. We both know what he’s capable of, Byakuya. This wouldn’t be the first time he’s had trouble following the rules. Thanks to his insubordination, I had to throw him to those wolves at the Eleventh and hope for the best. I’m still not sure that was the right decision. Perhaps they only brought out the worst in him—and made him more headstrong, harder to manage.”

“Renji obeys me. He obeys the law.”

Byakuya did not like the look that crossed Aizen’s face. It seemed too knowing somehow, too penetrating. Why did that slight smile seem to mock? “Of course he does, Byakuya. No doubt he’s different with you. I couldn’t keep him from straining the leash, biting at my heels. But, I found him charming and personable, perhaps I was too indulgent. Not like you. After all, Byakuya, I can’t imagine him chaffing under your command.”

Byakuya’s fist closed on the lieutenant’s badge finally. “Excuse me. I have an errant soldier to track down.”

As he left, Byakuya would have sworn he heard Aizen said with a smirk in his voice, “I’ll bet you do.”

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry about Utako. I made myself cry, but hopefully that's only because she was very much part of this story in *my* head. But, having re-read the Manga for this peice, it's VERY CLEAR that the reports of those who've been injured in the invasion is a critical part of why Renji goes after Ichigo (instead of say, doing what Aizen suggests.)
> 
> Also Ikkaku throwing Yumichika under the bus? It might be OCC, but Ikkaku has that funny panic-and-say-TMI part of his personality, so I went with it.


End file.
